THE CHIMERA. 



181 



hood of Cibyra itself, where they rise through, but 

 do not disturb the fresh-water tertiaries. The 

 iron-works, which anciently made Cibyra the Bir- 

 mingham of Asia Minor, were supplied from ores 

 of iron oxides, resembling the Elba ore. These 

 abound in the igneous rocks of the district. 

 They are now neglected. 



Near Adratchan, not far from the ruins of 

 Olympus, a number of rounded serpentine hills 

 rise among the limestone, and some of them 

 bear up masses of that rock. At the junction 

 of one of these masses of scaglia with the ser- 

 pentine, is the Yanar, famous as the Chimsera of 

 the ancients, rediscovered in modern times by 

 Captain Beaufort. It is nothing more than a 

 stream of inflammable gas issuing from a crevice, 

 such as is seen in several places among the Ap- 

 pennines. The serpentine immediately round the 

 flame is burnt and ashy, but this is only for a 

 foot or two, the immediate neighbourhood of the 

 Yanar presenting the same aspect it wore in 

 the days of Seneca, who writes " Laeta itaque 

 regio est et herbida, nil flammis adurentibus." 

 Such is the Chimsera — 



.... flammis que armata chimsera* — 



* Virgil, M. vi. 288. 



